Poll shows Israelis don't believe scandal-hit Olmert

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A majority of Israelis want Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign or go on leave over a bribery scandal and do not believe his denials of wrongdoing, an opinion poll showed on Monday.

The survey in Israel's biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, was the first to gauge the public mood since a court gag order in the case was partially lifted on Thursday and Olmert went on television to profess his innocence.

According to the poll, 59 percent of Israelis believe Olmert should resign or temporarily leave office until a police investigation into the suspicions is complete and 33 percent want him to stay.

Sixty percent of the 500 people surveyed said they did not believe Olmert's statement that he did not "put money in his pocket" and doubted he could lead peace efforts while under investigation. Twenty-two percent said they believed him.

The poll found that 41 percent of those surveyed regarded Olmert's deputy, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, as best suited to replace him as head of the centrist Kadima party should he resign. Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz came a distant second.

Legal sources say police suspect that Olmert took hundreds of thousands of dollars from New York Jewish financier Morris Talansky over a decade in coded payments.

Olmert, pledging to resign if indicted, said any funds from Talansky were contributions to two campaigns he waged for Jerusalem mayor in the 1990s and for posts in his former political party, Likud, in 1999 and 2002.

Israeli law broadly prohibits political donations of more than a few hundred dollars.

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